"Moving your business into the Cloud" 

Presentation: Moving your business into the Cloud

Cloud computing has dramatically changed the way many businesses operate and has opened up new exciting opportunities. There are now 1000's of powerful yet easy to use “cloud based” (or Software as a Service - SaaS) web applications that can be used (often at little or no cost) to help companies succeed in a fast changing business environment.

Many of these web applications now have API’s (Application Programming Interfaces) that allow powerful, loosely coupled, “mash-up” solutions. This means that a number of existing web products can be integrated to create powerful, highly customised and agile web / mobile web solutions quickly and cost effectively.

With practical examples, this down to earth presentation is aimed at non-technical business people who want to understand the basics of cloud computing.

Including:

• What are “Cloud-based solutions” and what are the pros/cons compared to traditional desktop alternatives?
• A quick look at some of the more popular “cloud solutions” covering team collaboration, document management, email, time management, project management, email marketing, CRM, accounting etc as well as some of the more esoteric ones such as goal management, mind-mapping, social media tracking…
• Questions to ask when considering Cloud solutions (e.g. does it do what you want, will it be around in the future, do you trust them, can you get support, can you get your data out, does it have flexible API, is it mobile enabled?)
• What are the key risks to be aware of?
• Google Docs vs Office - can we really throw out those Microsoft licences?
• Data sovereignty: does it matter where your data lives?
• A look at the new Google Chromebook
• Single sign on (or “how to avoid having to remember 30 logins.”)
• Real life examples of how API’s can be used to integrate Cloud services.
• How API's were used to help Powerswitch become one of the most successful online campaigns